Burglar-proof structure



' A'. 1. KIRKPATRIUK.

BURGLAR PROOF STRUCTURE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY l0,1919.

Patented Feb. 10, 1920.

2 SHEETS--SHEET I.

547 l mommy 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

' Patented Feb. l0, 1920.

A.1. KIRKPMRICK. BURGLAR PROOF. STRUCTURE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY I0, 1919.

me/2da@ l eem UNITED STATES PATENT ortica..

reunirse KinKrarnIcK, OFALTOQNA. PEMNSYLVMIA.'

-BU-RGLARLPROOF- sTnucTURE.

To aZZ'wLQm #may concern.'

Be it knownethat I, AMANDUs J. KIRK- PATRIGK, a lcitizen ofitlie 'United States, iresiding .at Altoona, in -theycountyf fofBlair and .State of Pennsylvania, .have invented certain .new and useful Improvements in.

Burglar-Proof Structures, of' which thexfollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to express` cars, and more especially to .those .whereinsthe structure is known ,asburglar-,proofg .and .the ob:-

ject of the same is to provide an apartment for erection within such car, which will .protect the valuablesfand which .may serve also for protection fortheexpress agent `.when he enters the same. It will 'be `stated here that it is quite possible to erect thisstructure in banks. .in counti-n houses and in variousA i 7 places where valuables are .to be storedL or transportechand therefore, while illustrated and described as: partof anexpress car, the

invention shouldnot Vbe thus -limited in it use.

Besides the broad object thus stated, the invention includes a peculiar form of wallto prevent theglancing of bullets` which might injure other railway employees l-than the agent7 a wall 4externally camouflaged and pierced at intervalswith port'holes protected by internal shields yor plates and through which the agent may fire from 'the interior, a structure whichl overhangs the `entrance door afterthe fashion of' a block house and has openings through which `the agent can fire 'from above, and otherdetails more -u-lly set forth i-n the following specification and claims.

lReferring to the drawings;

Figure l is a perspective view illustrating the body of a car `broken away -to show this structure erected within its interior.

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlargedsections on-.ther lines 2 2 and 3h-3 of Fig. l, and Fig. a is a section on the line '4-.i yolf Fig. 3, all showing the structure only.

Theear C-may'have afi-loer F and wall W7 of pressed steel, as express cars are `now often made, and similarly the parts of a building within whichjthis improved structure is used maybe o'f-metahstone or'brick, or other material which is proof against burglars andl fhighwaymen, at least vin the limited time in which v they have to opera-te. A lso such lwalls may be and usually are firebuilt upon the floor F and against the Wall p Specification of Letters Patent. Fel). 1Q, .1920. nppncauonimea July 1o, 191e. p semina. eoaesf. i

W ofahuildngrorva car .Cas shownn. Fig. 1,.;'itneed Inot necessarily yhave a aoor and a rear fwall. It .built -in aweerner two. wallsl s may Abe emitted, and if carried up to1 the eo ceiling'litstop :maybe omitted, as the corresponding parts ofthe building or car take the-place of these .elementSfbecauSe-the Structure ywill becoinnected with Said parts yfirmly. 'Ehe ,following fdeolption must 'therefore 65 bev read l`with this idea in view', v'zhelffe the structureywillhave no rear wall, .although the .remaining views showit with a rearfwall f and aitop and bottom so. thatit is' a coinplete unit. f l

, Broadly speaking the'structurefcomprises tiwfo sides, l .and l2,fand arear wal-l 3 rising from a tloor .4. to.. atop 5, the upper portion` of thesidesbeing carried ifforw-ard into an overhang having va floor 6 ofxitswown and 75 the .top being 4Correspondingly\ extended, and-this ,overhang having av-trot wall 7; The.; entrance door .is inset yto .the inner edge offthefloor 6, and is broadly yindicated atj8. The .rear wall'3 .wouldbe omitted in Fig. 1, 80 and possibly. 'the :floor .4, and the top 5 might. be .omitted if 'the structure wereextended .to .the `roof R of the car, or the structure might be built. into'` the corner of the 4car andi-ts .rear wallv andon'e of 'the 85 sides omitted. Of course the door couldface either transversely vor :longitudinally of the car, or, yby .appropriate modiication, it might :be possible-to erect. the structure across a 'corne-r of fthe car or building and 90 have door .face .obliquelyV The lfloor 4 may have strips 14 `standing on edge .-and" constituting joists of' its own, which would probably be 'the construction if'. the car -floor F were olf wood, and thus the metal Hoor 4e would protectthe .interiorof'the structure from being reached from the bottom. y1Appropriate angle irons 10 form the sills vfor the iioor, and .otherl` angle irons 11 vmay 'form the Vu'prizjits at'the corners, vmetal strips l2 100 being provided at intervalscextending.horizontally :past fthe .iuprights and bolted thereto as at 13. Gther strips 15. will .connect the yupperends .of the u. rights, angle iron elements Vbeing used were possible, and thusa skeleton 'frame work structure is` built up which is lightandstrong Surrounding this structure is a sheathing 16 of sheet metal forming the walls and the Atop land Hoor and bolted or riveted to.v thev frame work in a ymanner .which will be clear; Next outs-i'de'the sheathing on all or .most of the as the manufacturer desires,

upright walls are strips 17 of wood or metal or appropriate material, preferably overlying the strips and the uprights of the frame work and held by the same fasteners 13. Next outside these strips 17 is a facing 1S which may be of quite light material, such as tin, tongue-and-groove lumber, paper, or preferably compo board, also held to the strips by the same fasteners 18s or possibly tacked'to the strips 17 if the latterbe of Wood. This structure is shown as prevailing in the rear wall 3 of Fig. 1 and is omitted from the front should exist on most or all of the exposed side Walls. Its purpose is, without materially increasing the weight, to produce a Wall having a small vertical space between its sheathing and its facing, the width of the spacev depending upon the thickness of the strips 17 When a robbery occurstand the highwaymen fire at this structure, the bullet will penetrate the facing but will not penetrate the sheathing as the latter must be made suiiiciently heavy to be' bullet-proof, and the result will be that the bullet will pass through theV facing but will not glance off the sheathing to the possible injury of other employees standing within the car, the bullet simply falling within said space and coming to rest upon one of the strips 17, or in other words, it will be pocketed within the hollow wall structure. It is quite within the spirit of the invention, however, to make both sheets of the wall of metalv if desired, and also to construct the door 8 in the same Way if preferred, although the front wall 7 being rather high needA not necessarily have this construction unless it is desired.

The door 8 may be single or double, according to the width of the structure, and while it may be a sliding or a hinged door it is illustrated herein as hinged at one side at l20 to one of the uprights 21 of a door frame so that it may be closed against the opposite upright 22, a cross strip 23 at the top, and a sill 10 at the bottom, and it is shown as capablel of being fastened from the interior by means of a cross bar 24 centrally pivoted at 25y and having an operating handle 26, the ends of the bar turning behind keepers 27 and 28 on the uprights 21 and 22 to firmly lock the door closed.

The exposed walls of the structure are preferably painted or otherwise camouflaged with rings or circles as seen at 30 in Fig. 1, and certain of these are opposite holes 38 in the facing which in turn are opposite holes 36 in the sheathing, thereby producing a port hole which isv hardly discernible from the exterior. A port hole 37 is purposely formed in the floor `6 of the overhang, the same being covered by a plate 31 pivoted at 32 and having a handle 33. so

wall 7 ofv Fig. 3, but itk hold up the train and gain admittancev through the windows or doors of the car and threaten the agent.` He will immediately run into rthis burglar-proof structure,

wherein of course his most highly kvaluable packages will be'stored, and close and lock the door behind him, leaving the robbers on the exterior although they are within the car. In their chagrin at being thus baffled, they will `doubtless lire at the structure with the hope of wrecking it' and of intimidating or killing` the agent. It has been shown howf 'bullets' striking the side walls will be pocketed, rather than glancing off to the injury of others within the car. 1f the door 8 'be made of extra heavy metal, bullets fired point blank at it, or the efforts of the robbers to smash it in, will be eifectually withstood. Meanwhile the agent can turn aside any of the plates or shields and. fire from the interior upon the intruders. Undoubtedly their main efforts will be directed toward opening or smashing in the door 8, and hence the utilitv of the overhang with the hole 37 in its floor is apparent. Also the painting of the facing with camouflage as indicated at 30 will prevent the highwaymen from ascertaining the location of the portholesr through which the defensive shots come. Taking into consideration the limited time in which the robbers must act,'it is believed that a structure of this kind will enable the' agent to hold them off atleast until assistance arrives, and of course the noise of the fusillade would attract attention even if this structure were in a building and the attack was made in the dead of the night.

It has lnot been thought necessary to amplify details to the extent of showing an ordinary lock with which the door may be provided so that it may be closed and locked from the exterior and thus serve as a safe, nor shelving or other means on the interior for the storage of express packages and the like, nor the means for lighting the interior of the'structure. This specification is confined to those features necessarily forming part of the invention, and modifications are contemplated within the spirit of the appended claims, bearing in mind that the element herein called a car C might be a building within which the structure is set up, and to whose walls and floor and ceiling its parts will of course be securely attached. Finally it is also quite Within the l spirit of the invention to fire proof the Walls, but details are omitted. Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

l. The herein described burglar-proof structure, including an entrance door inset from the front edges of its side Walls to produce an overhang, a floor for the overhang above the door opening, the floor having a hole and means for locking the door from the interior.

2. The herein described burglar-proof structure including an entrance door inset from the front edges of its side Walls to produce an overhang, a Iioor for the overhang above the door opening, the floor having a hole, a guard movable over said hole and having a handle on the interior of the overhang, and means for locking the door from the interior.

3. The herein described burglar-proof structure including an entrance door with means for locking it from' the interior, and Walls camouflaged exteriorly in spots and perforated through certain of the spots, and guards movably mounted upon the interior over said perforations.

l. In a burglar-proof structure, .a Wall composed of a bullet-proof sheathing, strips on the exterior thereof, and a facing secured upon the strips and leaving a pocket between it and the sheathing, for the purpose set forth.

5. In a burglar-proof structure, a skeleton frame Work adapted to be secured to a floor against the Wall of a building or car, a bullet-proof door hinged in one ofthe eX- posed sides of said frame Work and having means for fastening it from the interior, bullet-proof Walls covering the yremaining exposed sides of the frame Work, certain of said Walls having port holes and the structure having an overhang projecting beyond the door opening, the floor of the overhang having an opening, and guards movable over said -port holes and operable from the interior of the structure.

6. In a lire-proof structure, the combination with a skeleton frame Work composed of bars and strips and sills, certain of said elements delining a door frame and the frame Work 'carried forward of and over the frame into an overhang, Wall plates secured to said frame Work With the side Walls eX- tending past the door frame, and floor plates in the overhang and on said sills; of a door hinged to one side bar of the frame, a cross bar centrally pivoted on the interior of the door, and keepers on the side bars of the frame with which the ends of said cross bar mayv be engaged, as described.

I n testimony whereof I ailix my signature.

. ,AMANDUS J. KIRKPATRIGK. [n 8.] 

